In a 2011 memo published by Wikileaks, Clinton underling Doug Band described how he secured hundreds of thousands of dollars in free travel and gifts for Bill Clinton and his family. While Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton did not disclose any gifts or free travel, as required. The gifts were first reported by Alana Goodman in the Daily Mail: ‘In support of the President’s for-profit activity, we also have solicited and obtained, as appropriate, in-kind services for the President and his family – for personal travel, hospitality, vacation and the like,’ wrote Band in the Nov. 16, 2011 memo...

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sought to arrange Pentagon and State Department consulting contracts for her daughter’s friend, prompting concerns of federal ethics rules violations. Clinton in 2009 arranged meetings between Jacqueline Newmyer Deal, a friend of Chelsea Clinton and head of the defense consulting group Long Term Strategy Group, with Pentagon officials that involved contracting discussions, according to emails from Clinton’s private server made public recently by the State Department. Clinton also tried to help Deal win a contract for consulting work with the State Department’s director of policy planning, according to the emails. Deal is a close...

There is another major announcement I am going to make today as part of our pledge to drain the swamp in Washington. If I am elected President, I will push for a Constitutional Amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress. Decades of failure in Washington, and decades of special interest dealing, must come to an end. We have to break the cycle of corruption, and we have to give new voices a chance to go into government service. The time for Congressional term limits has arrived. ...

First: I am going to re-institute a 5-year ban on all executive branch officials lobbying the government for 5 years after they leave government service. I am going to ask Congress to pass this ban into law so that it cannot be lifted by executive order. Second: I am going to ask Congress to institute its own 5-year ban on lobbying by former members of Congress and their staffs. Third: I am going to expand the definition of lobbyist so we close all the loopholes that former government officials use by labeling themselves consultants and advisors when we all know...

Donald Trump took his outrage over what he deems a "rigged system" a step further and called for a series of ethics reforms aimed at tackling corruption in Washington, including tighter restrictions on members of Congress and White House officials taking on jobs as lobbyists. The proposals came after Trump began his speech here by accusing officials at the FBI and State Department of engaging in a "criminal conspiracy," seizing on FBI documents released Monday that revealed that at least two officials at those departments allegedly bargained over reconsidering the classification of an email on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's private...

Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has been suspended from the bench for telling probate judges to defy federal orders regarding gay marriage. The Alabama Court of the Judiciary (COJ) issued the order Friday suspending Moore from the bench for the remainder of his term. "For these violations, Chief Justice Moore is hereby suspended from office without pay for the remainder of his term. This suspension is effective immediately," the order stated. The court found him guilty of all six charges of violation of canon of judicial ethics. Moore's term is to end in 2019. Gov. Robert Bentley will...

A series of tweets by well-known Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe caused a bit of firestorm online amongst legal ethics experts. It started on Tuesday when Prof. Tribe sent out this Tweet: (TWEET-AT-LINK) What followed was a rather lengthy back and forth on Twitter, with some encouraging Tribe to reveal the notes and others accusing him of breaking various legal ethical rules governing the attorney client relationship. Attorney Michael Krauss penned a strong rebuke of Tribe’s conduct in article in Forbes, calling it “extremely disappointing.” Krauss concluded that not only would the notes be confidential, but the mere fact that...

“Give a man a reputation as an early riser,” said Mark Twain, “and he can sleep ‘til noon.” Hillary Clinton finds herself in the opposite situation: She has a reputation for venality — the merits of which we can set aside momentarily — that forces her to a higher ethical standard. Her inadequate response to the conflicts of interest inherent in the Clinton Foundation show that she is not meeting that standard, and has not fully grasped the severity of her reputational problem. The purpose of the Clinton Foundation is to leverage Clinton fame into charitable donations. That purpose has...

A State Department spokesperson clarified Thursday that Hillary Clinton’s 2009 ethics pledge—to avoid conflicts of interest with the Clinton Foundation—did not extend to Clinton’s top aides at the Department. Spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau was asked about recently revealed emails that showed top members of Hillary Clinton’s staff doing favors for Clinton Foundation associates. “I’m not going to speak to specific emails, but I think you guys know State Department officials are regularly in touch with a wide variety of outside individuals and organizations including businesses, nonprofits, NGOs, think tanks,” Trudeau replied. “You don’t feel like there was impropriety in the relationship

Vermont doctors and health care professionals are pushing back against an interpretation of state law that they say requires them to help kill patients who wish to die. Members of two medical groups, the Vermont Alliance for Ethical Healthcare and Christian Medical & Dental Associations, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against officials in two state medical agencies responsible for the interpretation. The lawsuit says these agencies have interpreted a 2013 physician-assisted suicide law, Act 39, in a way that would require health care professionals to counsel terminally ill patients about the option to commit suicide. Additionally, under such an interpretation...

I live in a small city (12,000 or so population) The Mayor has asked me to consider an appointment to the city Ethics Commission. He says they need people of good character and apparently he thinks I fit the bill. I've never done or considered anything like that. Outside of "Run, Run fast and far" does anyone have any advice or experience on such a commission?

A constitutional rights foundation has field an ethics complaint against members of the Democratic Party who staged a sit-in on the floor of the U.S. House recently in protest or the Republican-led House’s unwillingness to consider gun-control legislation. The ethics complaint came from the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust shortly after a couple dozen Democrat members of Congress took over the House floor and literally sat down for a day. It complains the Democrats were using the opportunity to send fundraising emails from the floor, and they were using official House images. The Hill reported House ethics rules bar...

Attorney General Loretta Lynch described her Monday meeting with Bill Clinton aboard a private plane as “primarily social,” but even Democrats are struggling to stomach the optics of the attorney general’s meeting with the former president while his wife is under federal investigation. Lynch said she and Clinton talked only of grandchildren, golf, and their respective travels, but the fact that the two spoke privately at all was enough to rekindle concerns about a possible conflict of interest. Republicans have long called into question the ability of a Democratic-led Department of Justice to conduct an independent investigation into Hillary Clinton’s...

Democrat Rep. Charlie Rangel has found himself in a bit of a pickle. After years of allegedly thumbing his nose at pesky things like rules, his supposed misdeeds may be coming back to bite him on the proverbial hind quarter. A House ethics committee subpanel today found Democratic Rep. Charlie Rangel guilty of 11 of the 13 charges of ethics violations against him. The panel, composed of four Democrats and four Republicans, emerged after private deliberation to announce their findings.

Fox News Chris Wallace interviewed Hillary Clinton's baby campaign manager Robby Mook during his Sunday morning talk show. Wallace asked Mook about Clinton's low numbers in the trustworthy department and what did Mook do? Well, first of all, Trump’s speech earlier this week was just riddled with outright lies, inaccuracies,” Mook said. “It’s been fact-checked probably more than any other speech. Wallace quickly interrupted Mook to say he pointed that out to Trump supporter Newt Gingrich earlier on Fox News Sunday. I find it very ironic that Donald Trump bought his Turnberry golf course, you know, from an Arab country...

WHAT MAKES A POLITICIAN By DH, 2016 Has anyone really stopped and analyzed why it seems like the higher in office an elected official gets the more power-hungry and corrupt they become? There are several reasons for this personality disorder and it all starts with their first victory in any level of the election process. 1. They want to make changes to the current administration, laws, rules, or the dictates thereof. 2. They are egotistical zealots and simply crave public adoration. 3. They know that public office means a path to wealth, riches and special favors from those they give...

Strongly disputing a federal judge’s power to issue a sweeping order to punish the government over ethical issues in the hard-fought case over federal immigration policy, the Obama administration began moving swiftly on Tuesday to block that order. It asked the judge to put the issue on hold, and promised an immediate appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The department argued on Tuesday that the part of his order forcing the government to hand over personal information about youths who had benefited from one of the changes in policy would affect about 50,000 individuals, and...

Alice C. Linsley Gay activist Jonathan Charles Rauch describes himself as "an unrepentantly atheistic Jewish homosexual" which is to say that he has completely rejected the traditional wisdom of his ancestors. Jonathan Rauch is so lacking in critical thinking skills as to be dangerous. Rauch’s “Case for Gay Marriage” is full of fallacious arguments, as I have demonstrated to my Ethics students. J. Rauch’s First Premise: Marriage is necessary to providing reliable caregivers. This assumption is not true. It is, in fact, verifiable false since we are able to observe that reliable caregivers exist who are not married to the...

“This skit was outright sacrilege. They know if they did this to Muslims they’d have to be put into the witness protection program,” the singer-actor said. Pat Boone is calling out NBC and Saturday Night Live for allegedly being anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, cowardly, “diabolical” and even demonic for a skit over the weekend that parodied God’s Not Dead 2, the actor-singer’s latest movie. In God’s Not Dead 2, Melissa Joan Hart plays a public school teacher who is persecuted for answering a student’s question about Jesus. In the SNL skit, a trailer for a movie called God is a Boob Man...

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- In a recent interview for the BBC2 series Inside Obama's White House," President Obama sounded somewhat wistful as he spoke to an interviewer about how he has tried to use his voice "to move things toward a more ethical and moral outcome." The question of morals and ethics has been debated since the dawn of humanity. It won't be settled by the shifting winds of politics, because not everyone can agree on what is moral and what is not. Dictionary.com defines morality: "Conformity to the rules of right conduct." Ah, but here's the rub. That definition...

Judicial Watch Reveals More Benghazi, Clinton Foundation Corruption Cover-up on American POWs in Cuba?Clinton Email Scandal PanelJudicial Watch Reveals More Benghazi, Clinton Foundation Corruption This has been an important week in our continuing investigation of Hillary Clinton’s time as secretary of state. We are uncovering critical links between her official duties and the private interests of her family’s foundation. The 276 pages of internal State Department documents we released this week reveal that within two days of the deadly terrorist attack on Benghazi, Mohamed Yusuf al-Magariaf, the president of Libya’s National Congress, asked to participate in a Clinton Global...

<p>The chief of the National Park Service knew his book project would be squelched by agency ethics officers, so he went ahead and wrote it anyway without bothering to ask for permission, investigators said Thursday in a report detailing a striking level of negligence.</p>

Like the Blind Leading the Blind: Donald Trump and Evangelicals This morning, like most mornings now, I found myself reading an article on Donald Trumpâ€™s candidacy. Everyday I ask myself the question, â€śHow can so many American Evangelicals support such an openly narcissistic, power driven man?â€ť Sarah Palin endorsed him, Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University, endorsed him,[1] and not too long ago, a poll was released that showed that Evangelical Christians as a whole are gravitating to Trump.[2] But, this article I read today gave me a much needed answer as to why Americans and specifically republican...

The use of assisted reproductive technology (ART) is so common nowadays that itâ€™s easy to forget how quickly social attitudes have changed. The Atlantic recently published a feature about the early days of artificial reproductive technology under the headline â€śThe First Artificial Insemination Was an Ethical Nightmare: The 19th-century procedure involved lies, a secrecy pledge, and sperm from a surprise donorâ€ť.The implication is that that contemporary ART is far more ethical than it was in the bad old days.Letâ€™s look first at the origins of ART. The first pregnancy after artificial insemination apparently took place in England in 1790. The...

One of the United States' most influential evangelical leaders blasted Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr. on Monday for hosting Donald Trump to give a campaign speech. Russell Moore, who heads the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, let fly a series of tweets after Falwell gave a glowing introduction to Trump, calling him "one of the greatest visionaries of our time" and saying Trump "lives a life of helping others ... as Jesus taught in the New Testament." Moore appeared incredulous at Falwell's language, which was more effusive than he had...

... After gaining control of two casinos through deals that loaded them with debt, [Trump] turned in 1987 to the Taj Mahal, a megaproject being built by publicly traded Resorts International Inc. Mr. Trump bought a class of shares that gave him just a slice of Resortsâ€™ equity, but voting control. From that perch, he pushed through a service contract that would have the company pay him $108 million over five years. He told casino regulators the company could raise the cash needed to finish its casino only by assuring lenders Mr. Trump would remain involved, which this contract did....

**SNIP** Most of the ad is standard campaign fare, and not particularly noteworthy, even though the endorsements from Sheen and Moore are several years old. Both were taken from Grayson's House campaign nearly six years ago. But at the 18-second mark, the ad gets really interesting. That is the point where Grayson - to promote his Senate bid - uses an MSNBC clip of him speaking during a congressional hearing - yet another violation of U.S. House rules. Grayson runs afoul of ethics rules on the use of official resources for campaign or political purposes, namely House Rule 11, Clause...

Heroin addicts with recurring heart valve problems caused by their use of dirty needles are forcing surgeons across the state to make difficult ethics decisions on continuing to provide them expensive care. Cardiac surgeons are seeing a 50 percent increase in ineffective valvular heart disorders attributed to the use of dirty needles, said Scott H. Bronleewe, a cardiac surgeon practicing in Tampa for the past 26 years. The cost is staggering: more than $500,000 for the procedure and hospital stay for an uninsured addict, many of whom are back on the operating table within a few months, suffering from the...

With no charges being filed against the Cleveland officers involved in the shooting death of Tamir Rice, you can be assured that the Black Lives Matter movement will continue their activism into the 2016 season. This incident, the police-involved shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and the controversial arrest and death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, took a toll on law enforcement. In June, a Gallup poll showed that confidence in police had reached a 22-year low. Now, the polling company is saying that there has beenÂ a Ă˘Â€ÂśtenuousĂ˘Â€Âť recovery: After dipping to 48% in 2014 amid a national...

Genetically-manufactured babies, gene-manipulated human embryos, human-animal chimeras, human clonesâ€”all science fiction, right? No, these various types of laboratory-manufactured human embryos are already reality. Last spring, Chinese scientists announced they had experimented with genetic manipulation of human embryos, and scientists in the U.S. want to join in the experiments, also recently approved in law in the U.K. At a recent Washington, D.C. conference, instead of thoroughly debating the ethical concerns, American, British, and Chinese genetic engineers discussed the "glorious potential" of gene-modified humans seeking ways to further, not hinder, experimentation. The headlong rush ignores concerns for safety, ethics, alternatives, and public...

Citing the "tremendous potential" of research on human stem cells in nonhuman embryos, scientists and a bioethicist from the Stanford University School of Medicine have co-authored a letter urging the removal of funding restrictions imposed on such research last month by the National Institutes of Health. The researchers believe that work on what are called chimeric embryos is vital to advance our understanding of early human development, further our ability to accurately model devastating diseases and facilitate drug testing to ensure that potential therapies are safe and effective. "Currently, it is impossible to accurately recapitulate human development in vitro, and...

Rep. Alan Grayson (D., Fla.), known as one of the most outspoken members of Congress, met with a congressional ethics investigator Wednesday and would not discuss the meeting when questioned by Politico. Grayson has come under fire in recent months by the media and watchdog groups for operating hedge funds bearing his name, actions that are prohibited by sitting members of Congress. Additionally, on the same day the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) filed an ethics complaint against Grayson, he made a $15,000 payment to a law firm using funds from his campaign, which he also refuses to...

Ethics experts question arrangement, see conflicts of interestWhile still working at the State Department, Hillary Rodham Clinton confidant Huma Abedin was paid by the private consulting firm Teneo Holdings to help stage a star-studded reception that included her boss’ husband, Bill Clinton, along with George W. Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair as speakers just days after the Benghazi tragedy, The Washington Times has learned. Ms. Abedin’s work on the Sept. 20, 2012 event at the glamorous Essex House in New York City helped entertain potential Teneo clients, wowing them with access to three former world leaders on...

While working as a high-level aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin received a curious waiver to work in the private sector simultaneously â€” and went to work for a firm politically connected to the Clintons and their foundation, Teneo. The waiver itself is under investigation by the Senate Judiciary Committee, a probe that may take on more importance as the FBI succeeds in uncovering more e-mail from Hillaryâ€™s server. Politicoâ€™s Rachel Bade may have found a quo if not a quid in Abedinâ€™s communications: A spring 2012 email to Hillary ClintonÂ’s top State Department aide, Huma...

Ron Calzone has committed the most shocking political crime possible: daring to actively participate in his stateÂ’s legislative process as a private citizen and as leader of an NGO (non-governmental organization). Wait, no, itÂ’s much, much worse than that: Calzone has also been effective. Now, that is serious. The restless citizens of Mizzouland might be getting [gasp!] organized. Mr. Calzone is the president of Missouri First, an organization advocating constitutional, accountable government.Â More importantly, this citizens lobbying group does the hard work of communicating with people and finding ways for their voices to be heard in the capitol â€” their online...

Sidney Blumenthal, a longtime Hillary Clinton friend who was an unofficial adviser while she was secretary of state, is trailed by reporters as he takes a lunch break from being deposed in private session of the House Select Committee on Benghazi at the U.S. Capitol in Washington June 16, 2015. A new batch of messages from Hillary Clinton's private email account that was released on Monday evening shows she received advice about political strategy from her controversial confidante Sidney Blumenthal in the leadup to the 2010 midterm elections. Blumenthal's suggestions focused on attacking Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio). Boehner became speaker...

By M.D. Kittle | Wisconsin Watchdog Dear Patrick: You know what I hate – in addition to Hitler, I mean? I hate working until 1:30 in the morning to publish a great story only to find my counterpart at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (this’d be you) ripping me off – and then missing the story. My story, “Explosive email exposes GAB attorney’s partisan motives in John Doe probe,” cited an email that I had exclusively. I actually worked for that email. You found it the way all of my readers did. Wisconsin Watchdog linked to that document. You linked to...

Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin said on Monday that he wanted to eliminate the state’s Government Accountability Board, a nonpartisan agency that oversees elections, ethics, campaign finance and lobbying. In 2012, the board voted unanimously to approve an election to recall Mr. Walker, the first governor in the state’s history to face such a challenge, and it later authorized an investigation into allegations of violations by the governor’s campaign in that election. Mr. Walker would replace the board with “something completely new that is truly accountable to the people of the state of Wisconsin,” he told reporters after a bill-signing...

Last week many of us were disgusted to learn Planned Parenthood is harvesting and selling body parts from aborted children. As the largest provider of abortion in America, Planned Parenthood is part of the problem, on the “supply” side. But as we all learned in Econ 101, there’s both supply and demand. What’s behind the demand for abortion? A major factor is the breakdown of the family. And the Supreme Court’s ruling to redefine marriage is only taking us further down that road, putting even more unborn children at risk. After all redefining marriage redefines parenthood. The best protectors of...

The Post reports, “A federal appeals panel court on Thursday unanimously affirmed the public corruption convictions against former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell, writing in an 89-page opinion that the onetime Republican rising star ‘received a fair trial and was duly convicted by a jury of his fellow Virginians.'” Of most relevance and interest to other pols, McDonnell’s attorneys argued he had not performed any “official acts” in exchange for bribes. The court nixed that complaint: The appeals court panel disagreed, asserting that the government had “exceeded its burden” of proof on the topic of official acts. The opinion cited...

Rep. Alan Grayson (D., Fla.) is finding himself in hot water over managing hedge funds that bear his name, actions that are in possible violation of House ethics rules. Sitting members of Congress are prohibited from using their name in titles of entities for personal financial gain, Politico reports. Rep. Grayson has three hedge funds with his name attached to their title. One of Grayson’s funds, Grayson Fund L.P, is based out of Delaware and consists of three investors. According to November regulatory filings, the fund shows sales totaling $13.2 million.

Most curators hope to get glowing reviews and popular acclaim when they mount an exhibit. Michael Kamber, on the other hand, is expecting some blowback for his latest show, “Altered Images: 150 Years of Posed and Manipulated Documentary Photography,” which opens this weekend at the Bronx Documentary Center. And he’s perfectly O.K. with that. “I think there will be some unhappy people,” said Mr. Kamber, a photojournalist and founder of the center. “That’s good. If people would stop faking photos, then they wouldn’t have to be worried about being called out.” The exhibit, a selection of well-known images that have...

Jefferson, a member of the gentry of Old Virginia, was always regarded as one of the best and brightest of his generation, a gentleman of the finest intellect, taste, and manners. Although Jefferson loved and was loyal to the Union, he was a Virginian first and an American second; Virginia, Jefferson avowed, was his “country.” This order of allegiance – State over Union, or “Society” over “the State” – was firmly rooted in the Old South. Accordingly, in the emerging conflict between the North and the South, Jefferson sided with his own country. “It is true that we are completely...

The Clinton Foundation reported Thursday that it has received as much as $26.4 million in previously undisclosed payments from major corporations, universities, foreign sources and other groups. The disclosure came as the foundation faced questions over whether it fully complied with a 2008 ethics agreement to reveal its donors and whether any of its funding sources present conflicts of interest for Hillary Rodham Clinton as she begins her presidential campaign. The money was paid as fees for speeches by Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton. Foundation officials said the funds were tallied internally as “revenue” rather than donations, which is why...

Hillary Clinton wins! Except this is one race she’d rather lose. The former secretary of state and current presidential aspirant tops the list as being “less ethical” than other politicians. GOP candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is on top as being “more ethical” than others. That’s according to the latest Fox News poll that asks voters to rate several announced and unannounced 2016 contenders as being more or less ethical than “most other politicians.” Some 44 percent of voters think Clinton is less ethical than the typical politician. She’s followed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 37...

Jim Wright, a driven Texas Democrat who rose to the pinnacle of congressional power before ethics charges forced his resignation as speaker of the House in 1989, died on Wednesday in Fort Worth. He was 92.

A taxpayer watchdog group is calling for an ethics investigation into meetings between Hillary Clinton's team and key Senate Democrats inside official Senate offices where political activities are barred. The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust has asked the Senate Select Committee on Ethics to probe the "apparent breach of ethics rules" stemming from an April 21 Clinton strategy session in a room just off the Senate floor. The group said that the rules need to be reinforced because it appears that "ongoing" strategy sessions are planned between the Democratic frontrunner and Senate supporters. "The taxpayers expect and deserve that...